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Veterans in “Green Jobs”: New York Times

May 15th, 2009

The New York Times ran a nice piece yesterday regarding veterans in “green jobs” such as solar, wind, biomass, etc.

So why are military-experienced job seekers targeting these areas, as well as being targeted by the energy sector for open positions?

Prior-military service members have always been a significant part of the energy industry’s, oil and gas industry’s, and energy utilities’ hiring plans. Because of their related training and work ethic, military-trained project managers, engineers, maintenance technicians and field service technicians can walk into any energy-related company and begin providing an immediate positive impact.

The focus on green energy hiring in areas such as solar, wind and biomass derives from the rapid ramp-up that is happening in those industries, in addition to the government’s focus on green energy. Some published reports have discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has energy-specific provisions that will create more than 500,000 energy jobs. And don’t forget the energy-related manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has always been an area of strength for military talent, and as the solar panels, rechargeable battery cells and wind turbines are being produced, many military job seekers will find great careers in these areas.

One of the other big drivers of the military to energy trend is “doing something good”. One of the reasons that people sign up for the military is that they have a strong sense of service. Then when they are in the military, many times they are doing high-speed jobs working with cutting-edge projects. So green technologies appeal to both the “sense of service / doing something good” that these military job seekers have, plus the desire to do something on the new frontier in the civilian world.

Bill Scott, a vice president for marketing at Bradley Morris, a military job placement company, also noted the importance of nuclear training.

“Many job seekers come out of the military with training that is directly applicable to civilian energy needs, for instance in the nuclear power sector,” he wrote in an e-mail message. His company, he said, is having a military hiring event specifically geared toward energy and renewables in Houston next month.